DIOR - THE DESIGNER STORIES

Yves Saint Laurent made his first debut in 1955, at 19 years old he became Diors design assistant. By 1957 Dior seen so much potential in Saint Laurent that he met with his mother Lucieene Mathieu-Saint Laurent to inform her that he had in fact chosen her son to succeed him at Dior. At this point Christian was 52 years old so Saint Laurent's mother was confused as to why he was making this choice so in advance. 

Dior, 1955

Dior, 1955

Christian Dior suffered his 3rd fatal heart attack not too long after having the meeting with Saint Laurent's mother which he was leaving his house. He sadly passed away on October 24 1957, there was over 2,500 people who attended his funeral, ranging from famous clients to all of his staff.

Jacques Rouet, who Christian originally began working with on the accessories range panicked and needed to stabilise the label as quick as possible as it was his business too. So Yves Saint-Laurent, now 21 years old, became the artistic director of Dior.

Then the slim look came about; Saint Laurent needed to leave his position at Dior when he was conscripted into the army. He was replaced by Marc Bohan who was an incredible success for Dior, he defined a new era for Dior by creating the slim look. This look was basically Diors original ironic shape however with a modernised silhouette.

Marc Bohan for Dior, 1963

Marc Bohan for Dior, 1963

The financial owners of Dior 'THE BOUSSAC GROUP' filed for bankruptcy in 1978, everything was sold to 'WILLOT GROUP'. In 1985 BERNARD ARNAULT became chairman, CEO and director of Dior, he saved the company and made it into the megabrand it is today. 

In 1989 GIANFRANCO FERRE replaced Marc Bohan as stylistic director of Dior; he stayed in this position for 8 years. He opened a store in hawaii and his first haute couture collection was awarded the De d'Or.

In 1997 Arnault (who was still in charge) decided he wanted British designer JOHN GALLIANO to take over Ginafranco. Arnault went out to say that even though he would of preferred a french man, talent has no nationality. So there it was, Galliano as head designer of Dior, everything was going great, he was bringing the company a lot of success. 

DIOR - 

DIOR - S/S 2002

DIOR - A/W 2002/2003

DIOR - 2003

DIOR - 2004

DIOR - 2005/2006

DIOR - 2007

DIOR - 2008/2009

DIOR - 2010

DIOR - 2011

DIOR - 2011 - JOHN GALLIANOS LAST EVER SHOW

"Galliano has a creative talent very close to that of Christian Dior. He has the same extraordinary mixture of romanticism, feminism and modernity that symbolised Monsieur Dior. In all of his creations - his suits, his  dresses - one finds similarities to the Dior style." - Arnault on Galliano.

In 2011 Galliano was fired from Dior, it was the result of events which shocked the world. Galliano was battling an alcohol problem and one late night when he was sat outside of a bar incredibly drunk an Italian couple asked if he has blue eyes and blonde hair. Gallianos reply was somewhat racist, inappropriate and incredibly offensive. 

This had him fired from Dior within 5 days of the incident, Galliano was fired just before his new collection was shown in Paris. However with Galliano now in rehab, Dior only showed 19 looks from the collection which is less than half than they would usually show. They didn't want it to be a memorable catwalk. 

Gallinos design direction BILL GAYTEN then moved straight up to head designer to cover the job until Dior could find somebody else. The fashion house was in more panic to find somebody right now than they where when Christian himself passed away. There was now so much more demand on the brand and because of the recent antics from Galliano the brand had to come back with a bang, it was a win or loose, if they did not come back with the right attitude it could be the end of Dior. 

After over a year of rumors RAF SIMONS took over artistic director in the house. From then until present (2014) he is still the man behind the Dior designs, although Galliano is putting in a fight to come back to Dior. Only time will tell!

Dior - fall 2014